Just had someone contact me with a 76 cancer patient. I do my own body and paint work but have not dealt with rust except surface. Trying to figure out if it's worth repairing or maybe buying for parts. Is this repairable? needs to be cut out and new metal added?
Cut clean and replace with new metal. Warning, Once your in there you will find more. Much more. Never fails.
Looks like a 76 Regal. After all the smoke clears on that job, the owner is going to have 10 times what the car is worth invested in it. Unless the car has some great sentimental value, its just not worth it. I'd make sure the guy knows it before opening that can of (tin) worms
Thank you for the replies. I'm thinking it is a parts car but didn't want to start ripping parts off of it if it could be rebuildable. He wants 3k and that seems pretty steep right now.
With the SS band over the quarter windows and the rear spoiler, it does look like a pace car. Kinda rusty for one of those, need to look it over good. If it is running and complete, still 3K is a lot. These cars are just not worth a lot, but kinda neet.
I think it is a dealer clone maybe. No lettering on back. Sail panels inside are solid so they go properly with the Stainless steel. 350 buick motor & red interior. However, it has idiot lights instead of gauges in the cluster. Every fully badged FS I have seen had gauges. Have most all the parts to finish my 77 into a clone. Needing...solid sail panels, right cluster with gauges, tilt floor shift Steering column and lower back seat to match the rest of my interior.
No need to speculate. The microfilm for that car is available from the Sloan. So you can figure out if its a real pace car and if it came with gauges or idiot lights. Nothing is absolute with these cars. http://sloanlongway.org/automotive-research/
The '75s were all trimmed pretty much the same (blue interior, white bucket seats, rallye steering wheel, Hurst/Hatch tops) with some variables with more minor options. Mine had a Fuel Economy gauge, the only one I have ever seen. The '76s were a bit looser. Not all of them had T-tops, interiors were in several colors and not necessarily buckets, optional steering wheels, etc.
I found a couple of articles about the 76 pace car, and it doesn't sound like they all had gauges. "The instrument panel's only needles are in the circular speedometer and the fuel gauge." Read more: https://autoweek.com/article/car-ne...-car-replica-greatest-spectacle#ixzz5Y6fuzC21" https://autopolis.wordpress.com/201...ntury-pace-car-replica-the-real-spirit-of-76/ http://www.beforeblack.net/76pace.htm
Can you weld? Could be a nice driver, in which case you don't HAVE to fix the rust unless there are structural problems. Yes, there will be more hidden rust. If interior, chrome and mechanicals are in great condition, it may be a decent deal. See what you can find on the west coast and compare to this car.
Since I found another Free Spirit, I won't be needing this one. The owner is listing it for sale on here. I do not have the skills to do the welding. A blind monkey could weld better than me.
No matter what kind of car or how rare or not it is, that rust is repairable. It is actually an easy repair. The rust is what a few people in the Midwest call little rust.
It is a 1976 Buick free spirit pace car one owner all original had been repainted at one time 83000 original miles the car is complete